Colorado-based real estate developer Darwin Horan serves as the CEO and president of Ventana Capital, Inc. When he’s not busy managing one of the state’s largest real estate portfolios, Darwin Horan enjoys watching movies and particularly enjoyed Saving Private Ryan.
Here are a few little-known facts about the film Saving Private Ryan:
- The story is somewhat true. Saving Private Ryan is about the Sullivan brothers, who were killed in action on the USS Juneau in World War II. However, the true inspirations for the film were the four Niland brothers. Three of them were believed to have been killed in action, so the remaining brother was sent back to the United States. A second brother was later discovered alive in Burma, so two of the Niland brothers ultimately survived the war.
- The film’s actors had to go to boot camp. The main actors in Saving Private Ryan were sent to boot camp by the film’s director, Steven Spielberg. However, in an effort to build resentment against actor Matt Damon, Spielberg purposely did not ask Damon to go through boot camp with the others. This resentment played a role in the film’s narrative and helped ground the actors’ performances in reality.
- The film’s producers spent $12 million on the Normandy beach landing scene. The scene employed more than 1,000 extras, many of whom were war veterans or members of the Irish Reserve Defense Forces. TV Guide magazine listed the beach landing scene as one of its top 50 movie moments.
